Safety device of a lighter

ABSTRACT

A safety device of a lighter, which has simple structure and more truly provides safety effect. The safety device includes: a main body having a fuel reservoir and a base seat, a press section being disposed on the base seat for controlling a valve member to open/close the fuel reservoir; and a wheel disposed on the base seat. The wheel has a rotary shaft movably fitted in a wedge hole of the base seat. The wheel is movable and rotatable for abrading a firestone. Several ratchets are formed on a wall of the wedge hole. The rotary shaft is formed with annularly arranged ratchets. The rotary shaft can be moved within the wedge hole to selectively engage the ratchets of the rotary shaft with the ratchets of the wedge hole or disengage the ratchets of the rotary shaft from the ratchets of the wedge hole. In a disengaged state, the wheel is rotatable for igniting gas.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to a lighter having simple structure and more truly providing safety effect, and more particularly to a safety device installed on a lighter.

There are various types of safety devices installed on lighters for preventing the lighters from being unexpectedly ignited by children. For example, Taiwanese Patent Application No. 91203578 discloses a fixing bracket of a lighter. Taiwanese Patent Application No. 88102379 discloses a safety device of a lighter. Taiwanese Patent Application No. 85106865 discloses a lighter with protective ring. Taiwanese Patent Application No. 88220694 discloses an improved gas reservoir of a lighter. Taiwanese Patent Application No. 90216111 discloses a childproof safety device of a lighter. Taiwanese Patent Application No. 85200409 discloses a casing of a lighter. Taiwanese Patent Application No. 91208302 discloses a dislocation safety lighter.

FIG. 1 shows another conventional lighter. The lighter has a base seat A formed with a slot A1. A wheel B is shafted in the slot A1 and vertically movable. A user can press the wheel B with the thumb or index finger. The pressing force is greater than the contacting force between the wheel B and the firestone C. Then the wheel B is rotated and the press section D is simultaneously depressed to ignite the gas. In the case that the pressing force exerted onto the wheel B is not great enough, the contacting force between the wheel B and the firestone C will hinder the wheel B from being rotated to ignite the gas. Accordingly, the lighter is prevented from being unexpectedly ignited by children.

Such design has some shortcomings. For example, an operator does not have to press down the wheel B. When the operator rotates the wheel B with a force slightly greater than the contacting force between the wheel B and the firestone C, a frictional force is applied to the firestone C to ignite the gas. Therefore, such lighter can hardly provide a reliable safety effect.

It is therefore tried by the applicant to provide a safety device of a lighter which has simplified structure and more truly provides safety effect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved safety device of a lighter, which has simple structure and more truly provides safety effect. The safety device includes: a main body having a fuel reservoir and a base seat, a press section being disposed on the base seat for controlling a valve member to open/close the fuel reservoir; and a wheel disposed on the base seat. The wheel has a rotary shaft movably fitted in a wedge hole of the base seat. The wheel is movable and rotatable for abrading a firestone. Several ratchets are formed on a wall of the wedge hole. The rotary shaft is formed with annularly arranged ratchets. The rotary shaft can be moved within the wedge hole to selectively engage the ratchets of the rotary shaft with the ratchets of the wedge hole or disengage the ratchets of the rotary shaft from the ratchets of the wedge hole. In a disengaged state, the wheel is rotatable for igniting gas.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above safety device of the lighter, in which the wedge hole is a slot including an upper section and a lower section. The ratchets of the wedge hole are formed at inner end of the upper section of the wedge hole. Each ratchet of the wedge hole has a tooth tip which is clockwise or counterclockwise directed. The ratchets of the rotary shaft are counterclockwise or clockwise directed in reverse to the tooth tips of the ratchets of the wedge hole. The ratchets of the rotary shaft can interfere with or engage with the ratchets of the wedge hole. Only in the disengaged state, the wheel is rotatable for igniting gas.

The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective assembled view of a conventional lighter;

FIG. 2 is a perspective assembled view of the lighter with the safety device of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective exploded view according to FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the wheel and the middle bracket of the base seat of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a plane view according to FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view according to FIG. 6, showing the operation thereof; and

FIG. 8 is a plane view of another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 2 and 3. The safety device of the lighter of the present invention includes: a main body 10 having a fuel reservoir 11; a base seat 20 disposed at an upper open end 12 of the main body 10, the base seat 20 having a symmetrically extending middle bracket 21 formed with a wedge hole 22; a wheel 70 having a rotary shaft 71 vertically movably fitted in the wedge hole 22; and a press section 30 mounted on the base seat 20 for controlling a valve member 40 to open/close the fuel reservoir 11. FIG. 3 shows that a resilient member 50 is mounted in the main body 10 for always forcing a firestone 60 to contact with or interfere with the wheel 70.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the wedge hole 22 is preferably a slot including an upper section 23 and a lower section 24. The rotary shaft 71 is rotatable within the wedge hole 22 and movable between the upper and lower sections 23, 24. In this embodiment, several ratchets 25 are formed at inner end of the upper section 23 of the wedge hole 22. Each ratchet 25 has a tooth tip 26 which is clockwise directed. The rotary shaft 71 is formed with annularly arranged ratchets 72 which are counterclockwise directed in reverse to the tooth tips 26 of the ratchets 25. The ratchets 72 interfere with or engage with the ratchets 25 as shown in FIG. 5 or 6.

Referring to FIG. 6, in an initial state, the resilient member 50 always forces the firestone 60 to interfere with the wheel 70. Under such circumstance, the rotary shaft 71 is positioned in the upper section 23 of the wedge hole 22 and the ratchets 72 of the rotary shaft 71 are engaged with the ratchets 25 of the wedge hole 22. Even if the application force is greater than the frictional force between the firestone 60 and the wheel 70, the wheel 70 cannot be rotated to ignite the gas. When an operator presses down the wheel 70 to move the rotary shaft 71 downward to the lower section 24 of the wedge hole 22, the ratchets 72 of the rotary shaft are disengaged from the ratchets 25 of the wedge hole 22. At this time, the wheel 70 is released and can be rotated to ignite the gas as shown by the arrow of FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the tooth tips 26′ of the ratchets 25′ of the wedge hole are counterclockwise directed. The ratchets 72′ of the rotary shaft 71′ are clockwise directed in reverse to the tooth tips 26′ of the ratchets 25′. The ratchets 72′ interfere with or engage with the ratchets 25′. Only when the ratchets 72′ of the rotary shaft are disengaged from the ratchets 25′ of the wedge hole 22, the wheel 70 can be rotated to ignite the gas.

It should be noted that the ratchets 25, 25′ of the wedge hole 22 can be transversely or obliquely arranged. The ratchets 72, 72′ of the rotary shaft are adapted to the ratchets 25, 25′ for engaging therewith.

In conclusion, with simplified structure, the safety device of the lighter of the present invention provides a childproof security effect to ensure safety in use of the lighter.

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. 

1. A safety device of a lighter comprising: a main body having a fuel reservoir and a base seat, a press section being disposed on the base seat for controlling a valve member to open/close the fuel reservoir; and a wheel disposed on the base seat, the wheel having a rotary shaft movably fitted in a wedge hole of the base seat, the wheel being movable and rotatable for abrading a firestone, several ratchets being formed on a wall of the wedge hole, the rotary shaft being formed with annularly arranged ratchets, whereby the rotary shaft can be moved within the wedge hole to selectively engage the ratchets of the rotary shaft with the ratchets of the wedge hole or disengage the ratchets of the rotary shaft from the ratchets of the wedge hole, in a disengaged state, the wheel being rotatable for igniting gas.
 2. The safety device of the lighter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotary shaft of the wheel is fitted in a wedge hole of a middle bracket of the base seat, whereby the wheel is rotatable and vertically movable.
 3. The safety device of the lighter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wedge hole is a slot including an upper section and a lower section, the ratchets being formed at inner end of the upper section of the wedge hole.
 4. The safety device of the lighter as claimed in claim 2, wherein each ratchet of the wedge hole has a tooth tip which is clockwise directed and the ratchets of the rotary shaft are counterclockwise directed in reverse to the tooth tips of the ratchets of the wedge hole, whereby the ratchets of the rotary shaft can interfere with or engage with the ratchets of the wedge hole.
 5. The safety device of the lighter as claimed in claim 2, wherein each ratchet of the wedge hole has a tooth tip which is counterclockwise directed and the ratchets of the rotary shaft are clockwise directed in reverse to the tooth tips of the ratchets of the wedge hole, whereby the ratchets of the rotary shaft can interfere with or engage with the ratchets of the wedge hole. 